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Legislation

The history of whistleblower legislation over the past 30 years is, in many ways, the history of the nation's leading whistleblower advocacy organization. Through its Legislation Campaign Program, GAP is committed to working closely with members of Congress and other government agencies, to building strategic coalitions that enable broad support, and to work through all legislative channels to strengthen whistleblower protections.

Recent Legislative Victories

The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) is a landmark good government law that overhauls the defunct Whistleblower Protection Act and provides millions of federal workers with the rights that allow them to report government corruption and wrongdoing. Back by an unequivocal bipartisan consensus, the WPEA received the vote of every member in the 112th Congress, passing both the Senateand House of Representatives by unanimous consent in the 112th Congress. Among other key reforms, federal employees are now protected (in addition to already-existing scenarios) from reprisal if they: are not the first person to disclose misconduct; disclose misconduct to coworkers or supervisors; disclose the consequences of a policy decision; or blow the whistle while carrying out their job duties.

Best practice whistleblower protections were also included for federal government contractors in the National Defense Autorization Act (NDAA) of 2013. This tremendous expansion of whistleblower rights will help to safeguard approximately $9 trillion worth of government contracts, grants and reimbursements annually, and protect some 12 million federal contractor whistleblowers should they expose corruption, wrongdoing, waste, fraud, abuse, or threats to the public.